Frankie Dettori was all smiles at Newmarket on Wednesday, his first day back
at work on a racecourse since his split with Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin
stable was announced on Sunday.

If he was feeling the pressure he was determined not to show it and the irrepressible Italian did not take long to make his point, delivering a strong ride to ensure Goodwood Mirage, a son of the promising sire Jeremy, made a winning debut in the second race of the day.

Dettori was pushing away with two furlongs to run as the colt ran green and needed all of his flair and experience to get the two year-old home, coming with a prolonged drive up the far rail on the Rowley Mile.

And that most reliable of barometers in assessing how the flamboyant Italian might be standing up to this professional crisis – his trademark flying dismount – was executed with gusto to the cheers of the small crowd. He responded with a wave and a grin to shouts of “Well done Frankie”.

Goodwood Mirage is trained by John Dunlop, who is due to retire at the end of the 2012 Flat season. Dunlop, who has seen it all during his decades at the top in racing, is regarded as a sound judge of a jockey and was not slow to offer a ringing endorsement of Dettori’s skill.

“Frankie gave him a great ride – he always does. He is not just world class, he’s top of the world class. I’m sure he will be employed by many people with huge success for many years to come,” he said.

With seven rides for seven different yards on Wednesday – including one each for the two Godolphin trainers – and another six rides, again for different trainers, in the seven races open to him at Doncaster on Thursday, Dettori is clearly out to prove he is as popular as ever.

His agent and great friend Ray Cochrane seems to be setting out the stall early for next season. Dettori knows that he has to work hard to re-establish old contacts away from the Maktoum family and their associates if he is to set off on a quest to land another jockeys’ title. He last wore the crown in 2004.

One of the final rides he will have for Godolphin will be Cavalryman in the Emirates Melbourne Cup on Nov 6, and one of his possible rivals day is the John Gosden-trained Gatewood, who won the Geelong Cup in a very slow time on Wednesday.

Gatewood needs to pick up a 1.5kg penalty from Handicapper Greg Carpenter to have any chance of forcing his way into the field. In Australia the penalties are discretionary; there have even been cases where the Handicapper declined the opportunity to raise a horse’s weight for the Melbourne Cup.

For the past two years, Carpenter has given the Geelong Cup winner – Americain in 2010 and Dunaden in 2011 – only an extra 0.5kg, mainly because they were already high in the weights. Significantly, both went on to defy the penalty. Gatewood could be viewed as a different case as he is way down in the weights and would need a boost to leapfrog other contenders. There is a field safety limit of 24 runners.

Usually in the run-up to the Melbourne Cup, contenders drop by the wayside as they either disappoint in their races or get injured. As more than half the field will not run again before the Cup – most are Europeans – those opportunities are now limited.